Arthur Shelby Sr.

Arthur Shelby Sr. (1864-1924) was an Irish traveller and the father of Arthur, Thomas, John, Ada, and Finn. He had a bad reputation as a hustler, thief, and whoremonger, and he abandoned his children in 1909 while they were still young. He later returned to steal 500 pounds from his children so that he could fund his return to America, where he was murdered in 1924.

Biography
Arthur Shelby was born in Ireland in 1864 to a family of Irish Travellers, and he became known as a hustler, thief, and whoremonger. He had five children with a partially-Romani woman from England, and he settled down in Small Heath, Birmingham with his family. However, he decided to abandon the family in 1909, instead returning to his old habits. In 1919, he became a bare-knuckle boxer in Birmingham, where his oldest son Arthur Shelby ran into him one day. Arthur Jr., the only one of Arthur Sr.'s family members to welcome him back, took him to the Shelby house, hoping to have the other children reconcile with their father. However, Polly Shelby said that he was not welcome in the house, and Tommy Shelby coldly told his father to leave, and told Arthur that he could follow his father out the door if he wanted to be with him. Arthur Sr. told Arthur Jr. that he had gotten to look into opening a casino and hotel in the United States, and asked for 500 pounds so that he could open the Shelby Hotel and Casino and make his children live like kings; he also promised that he had changed. After Arthur Jr. gave him the money, Arthur Sr. told him to meet him at the gym that Friday. However, Arthur Jr. did not find him there, instead finding him at the train station, where he intended to leave with the money without telling Arthur Jr.. Arthur Sr. told his son that he had been forced to steal because he was hungry, and he pinned his son against a wall when he attempted to attack his father due to his feelings of anger and betrayal. Shelby Sr. departed on the train, and he later took a ship back to the USA. In 1924, he was shot twice by two men who were waiting for him as he left a bar in Boston, Massachusetts, and his children sought to forget about him and let his name die.